It’s not the ’80s… yet
From the notebook of a sportswriter who just watched the post-apocalyptic Steelers without Ben Roethlisberger, and the experience was as deflating as expected:
n This was the 1980s all over again. The radio waves rustled with talk of promoting a backup quarterback, the performance was adequate but not enough, and there was some booing throughout, early exiting, and the post-game talk out of the locker room was about not settling for moral victories.
n聽Give me the angry rhetoric of 鈥淔ire the coach!鈥� when he can鈥檛 win with the franchise QB any day.
n聽An old boss 鈥� who covered the Steelers throughout the 1980s 鈥� bemoaned teams that finished between 6-10 and 9-7. The fans care when they鈥檙e really bad or when they鈥檙e really good. Treading water bores everyone.
n聽We鈥檙e getting ahead of ourselves, of course, and in this column we can admit that Landry Jones played well enough to lift spirits, in that a serviceable backup has been found, one who can step in and play better in a playoff situation than he did last year.
n聽And players such as Chris Hubbard and Cobi Hamilton and Javon Hargrave and Vince Williams can step in and play winning football if there鈥檚 another spate of injuries down the road.
n聽And Le鈥橵eon Bell can carry a team that makes just a few less mistakes.
n聽Yet, those positive notes come crashing to the pavement when you hear Bill Belichick say, 鈥淭his is a tough place to play.鈥� Because Heinz Field is a tough place to play. And the Steelers could beat the Patriots in the playoffs if they were to play here. But now that鈥檚 going to be a near impossibility.
n聽For the Steelers to win it all, they鈥檒l either have to win in Foxboro or, as happened in their last two championship seasons, hope for someone else to knock off the Patriots.
n聽The Patriots did look so very beatable yesterday. Really, with the exception of Brady鈥檚 accuracy, Rob Gronkowski was the only blue-chipper they had on the field. Brady doesn鈥檛 move around nearly as well as he used to, LeGarrette Blount can鈥檛 run laterally, the defense had zero to little pass rush and the corners were getting beat in the first half.
n聽Darrius Heyward-Bey, when asked why the Steelers passed for 179 yards in the first half but only 102 during catch-up mode in the second half, said, 鈥淭hey started going to more of a zone look because we 鈥� I鈥檓 going to choose my words carefully 鈥� because when they were going man-to-man, we were winning.鈥�
n聽There was praise for Jones throughout the locker room, but after the linemen were done, in the back corner, there was muttering. 鈥淭oo many mistakes,鈥� David DeCastro of the entire offense. 鈥淚t was frustrating.鈥�
n聽DeCastro isn鈥檛 one to complain about officiating, but he couldn鈥檛 help himself Sunday. 鈥淭hat first offensive pass interference penalty was awful,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat was pretty bad.鈥�
n聽The Steelers lost what appeared to be a big gain when the official threw a flag after Heyward-Bey was slammed by cornerback Eric Rowe. Offensive pass interference was called instead.
n聽And the touchdown called back because of a hold called against Chris Hubbard? 鈥淭he guy slipped,鈥� DeCastro said of the pass-rusher. 鈥淎n official came up to Hub and asked if the guy slipped and Hub said yeah. The official said someone else called it.鈥�
n聽However, there was no call on Patriots left tackle Nate Solder when he clearly held James Harrison on the 36-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski. 鈥淓verything looks like I was held,鈥� said Harrison with disgust. 鈥淪ometimes they see it, sometimes they don鈥檛.鈥�
n聽Ryan Shazier knew he wasn鈥檛 going to start, but he played at least half the game. He showed that his speed is back when he knifed through the line to break up a screen pass.
n聽Jarvis Jones was a bright spot through the first half, and in helping stop the Patriots on the key first possession of the second half, but on too many of Blount鈥檚 runs Jones was being blocked.
苍听叠补诲濒测.
n聽Robert Golden鈥檚 hands were shaking as he talked about the two big plays by Gronkowski. Golden was the primary coverage man on both plays, and on both plays he was beat. He took it hard.
n聽Sean Davis took a few snaps as a deep safety in the dime, and the other prize rookie in the secondary, Artie Burns, again seemed allergic to tackling.
n聽The Steelers haven鈥檛 had such skinny cornerbacks in decades, but at least Ross Cockrell is willing to stick his helmet in there.
n聽Lawrence Timmons covers better than Williams, but struggled all game with Edelman. That may need altered in a subsequent meeting.
n聽The tackling issues were the most jarring, again. Other than that, it鈥檚 about getting healthy and winning games they should win.
n聽If the Steelers truly take the rest of the season on a week-by-week basis, playing this game again, with a quarterback capable of finishing in the red zone, is likely.